The Cowboys' season hasn't been over for a week, but already attention is turning toward the Cowboys' offseason gameplan.
It's been a busy week for the Cowboys, as they're set to announce new deals for their head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator after a 12-4 season and an NFC East title.
If that wasn't enough, team owner/general manager Jerry Jones was asked if thinks the Cowboys are capable of spending in free agency this March to improve their roster.
"Yes. Yes we are," Jones said in an interview with 105.3 FM The Fan on Thursday morning.
This spring promises to be an interesting one in Dallas. The Cowboys have more cap space than they've been accustomed to in recent seasons, but they also have key roster decisions to make on major players like Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray. There's no shortage of other free agents to consider -- names like Doug Free, Jermey Parnell, Rolando McClain, Justin Durant, Bruce Carter, among others.
Multiple times during the interview, Jones eyed the Cowboys' pass rush as an area needing some work this year.
"I'd love to have the opportunity to improve that pass rush in the range of something we can afford â that makes sense logically," he said. "You know and I know that to get, you've got to not get something else -- it's either-or."
It remains to be seen what the Cowboys get and what they don't. Common logic suggests that Bryant will be receiving a longterm deal in the near future, or at the very least a franchise tag. The other line of thinking is that Murray may have played his final down in Dallas -- a thought Jones didn't want to speculate on.
"I'm not going to go into that, regarding him. It would be trite to say he's a vital part of our team, and there's no question we could be a better team with him than without him," he said. "But on the other hand, we don't want to get into how we're going to try that or what we're going to do in a strategy session to keep these key players."
Jones returned to his pass rushers, though -- or his "rushmen," to borrow a phrase from defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. He praised Tyrone Crawford's season at defensive tackle, and he noted the late-season surge by rookie defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. That said, he once again identified defensive line as an area of focus when free agency and the NFL draft draw nearer.
"The bottom line is we've got some things to build on," he said. "We've got some guys that played above where we thought they'd play, we've got some guys that need some competition again this year."
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